Muggia says drug development in ovarian cancer has not been easy, resulting in a lack of targeted therapies. Physicians rely on a chemotherapy regimen to treat patients with ovarian cancer that eliminates advanced disease about 80-90% of the time. However, Muggia says, the disease eventually comes back.

Muggia says there is a need to improve treatment for ovarian cancer. BRCA and PARP targets have proven to be good targets to develop further.

The FDA’s recent approval of the first PARP inhibitor suggests that this new class of targeted therapy has great potential to help not only patients with ovarian cancer for whom the agent is indicated but also individuals with breast cancer.

A joint program at the NYU Langone Medical Center and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is positioned to attract additional, world-class support from institutions and individuals who are dedicated to eradicating cancer through focused and efficient research.

Dennis J. Slamon, MD, PhD, has had an immeasurable impact on the treatment of women with breast cancer by developing trastuzumab (Herceptin) and helping to launch the era of targeted therapies. He was honored in the Breast Cancer category with a 2014 Giants of Cancer Care™ award, a program that the Intellisphere® Oncology Specialty Group launched to honor leaders in the field.